Spa, Friday: Ross: “Today has seen a good day’s work with the cars functioning well.”

Spa, Friday: Ross: “Today has seen a good day’s work with the cars functioning well.”

The team completed two busy practice sessions today in preparation for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. Conditions were typical of the Ardennes, with numerous showers through the day.

Michael and Nico completed a total of 74 laps in practice, equivalent to over 515 km running. Both drivers ran a selection of development parts during the day, including a modified front wing this afternoon. The technical programme included evaluations of different downforce levels in the mixed wet-dry conditions.

After the end of the second session, Ross said that the team did a good and comprehensive job despite the a very mixed day in terms of weather conditions: “We managed to run well in the limited dry windows and learned a lot about the balance of the car in dry conditions. The challenge for Sunday will be whether to favour a wet or dry set-up, so we will need to see how the weather develops tomorrow. We will then focus on what we expect to experience in the race, rather than the qualifying conditions. This is a track which responds very strongly to high downforce in the wet but it can be quite a disadvantage in the dry. Overall, today has seen a good day’s work with the cars functioning well.”

Norbert described today as: “A typical start to a Spa weekend, just like we’ve known it for many years - partly dry but mostly wet. Both Nico and Michael did quite a lot of laps and our basis for the weekend on this unique and challenging circuit seems not too bad. The forecast predicts rain for tomorrow, so we need to be prepared for a very challenging qualifying session and we want to make sure we get the best possible results out of it."